A new top team in the football Top of the Crop

Avon Lake’s resounding victory over Brecksville-Broadview Heights, combined with Avon’s loss at Medina, means the Shoremen take over the No. 1 spot in this week’s area rankings.

Football

1: (3) Avon Lake 2-0 2: (1) Avon 1-1 3: (2) Keystone 1-0 4: (5) Columbia 2-0 5: (6) Rocky River 2-0 6: (4) Olmsted Falls 1-1 7: (7) Elyria 2-0 8: (9) Elyria Catholic 1-1 9: (8) Firelands 0-2 10: (10) Brookside 1-0

Watch list: North Olmsted 1-1, Wellington 1-1, North Ridgeville 1-1

Crop Comments: Avon Lake continued its impressive start with a blowout win over Brecksville-Broadview Heights on Aug. 27, and because of that, the Shoremen vaulted into the top spot in the Crop. They have played as expected on defense (very good), but more surprisingly they’ve been outstanding on offense. There were plenty of questions surrounding that unit heading into this year, but so far Jeremy Dzik and Matthew Stuewe have put to bed any of those questions. … Avon drops from the top spot, but there’s no shame in the Eagles’ Week 2loss. The Eagles fell to Medina on the road in Week 2, snapping their 24-game regular-season win streak that dated to 2018. But Avon showed promise, holding Penn State commit Drew Allar to 27 points on offense. Head coach Mike Elder’s own offensive unit showed some poise late in the game with a big-time touchdown drive in the final

quarter, but then showed how much further they have to go with a threeand-out on their biggest drive of the game, with a chance to cut their deficit to three points. … Keystone drops a spot due to the Avon Lake jump to No.

1. The Wildcats didn’t play in Week 2. Their game with Cloverleaf was canceled due to complications with the novel coronavirus at Cloverleaf. … Columbia and Rocky River continue their move up the top 10 with impressive wins in Week

2. The Raiders dismantled Vermilion, winning, 44-0, and the Pirates topped then No. 8 Firelands. … Olmsted Falls dropped a close game to Brunswick, falling to 1-1. They’re still the third-ranked SWC team in the Crop, but that could change with Elyria nipping at their heels. … The Pioneers moved to 2-0 with a close win over Bedford. They’ve looked impressive at times, but if they truly want to compete in their new conference, they’ll need more consistency on offense. … Elyria Catholic’s offense exploded for 68 points in Week 2, earning the Panthers the No. 8 spot. If they can keep even just a portion of that effort up heading into their GLC schedule, the Panthers could be a contender in the conference. … Much like Keystone, Brookside didn’t play in Week 2 thanks to complications with the novel coronavirus. Thus they don’t move up or down. Looking at the watch list, Wellington played an impressive second half in their win over Mapleton, North Ridgeville impressed in their first win of the season and North Olmsted dropped a game to Green.

Note: records as of Aug. 29